Siemens has received an order worth €380 million from its customer Nizhnekamskneftekhim, part of the TAIF group, to build a combined cycle power plant (CCPP) on a turnkey basis in Tatarstan, Russia. As general contractor, Siemens will work with the Turkish company ENKA to build the 495-MW plant on a turnkey basis. The power plant is scheduled to begin operation in May 2021.

China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) has said it started to divert almost 7 million cubic metres of natural gas from the southern province of Guangdong to northern China to ease gas shortages. The government’s 5-year plan, mandating power and heat generation in cities around Beijing to be led by natural gas instead of coal, has left northern China short of fuel at the time of a cold snap.

Construction works on Dubai’s $3.1 billion M-Station electricity generation and desalination plant in Jebel Ali has reached 82% completion, Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) announced on Sunday. Once completed in Q3-2018, the upgraded and expanded M-station will have an installed capacity of 2,885 MW.

Faced with additional gas demand from new-build power stations, Nigeria needs nearly 2 billion standard cubic feet (Bscf) of gas to meet the country’s entire demand. Observers estimate the investment required to make that 2 Bscf available would be $6 billion for plants, pipelines and other infrastructure.

A central bank in a major EU economy has installed ABB’s smart circuit breakers Emax 2 to upgrade the backup power at its headquarters, increasing security and system resilience. “From a power perspective, a bank is a plant that must never shut down,” commented Fabio Monachesi, global product manager at ABB’s Protection and Connection unit.

Larsen & Turbo, the India-based technology conglomerate, has just commissioned the Sikalbaha combined-cycle power plant (225 MW) on behalf of its owner Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB). The 225-MW had also been built by L&T on a turnkey basis.

Natural gas consumption in the US has increased 27% this week, propelled up by an 18% demand rise from the power sector as a cold weather front moved across the country. In the Northeast, where cold weather persisted throughout the week, prices jumped at the Algonquin Citygate which serves consumers in Boston and at the Transcontinental Pipeline Zone 6 trading point for New York.

Iran’s deputy oil minister Ali Kardor, who also heads the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) has signed an energy roadmap with Gazprom chairman Alexey Miller that will see the Russian energy major conduct a proof-of-concept study on implementing integrated projects in Iran. Gazprom said it aims to work with NIOC along the entire gas value chain, from extracting gas in Iran to monetizing the product – ideally via the Iran LNG project.

The head of Alstom, Henri Poupart-Lafarge, has announced the French rail company will exercise its option to divest its stakes in joint ventures with General Electric. Alstom in 2015 sold off its power and grid business to GE for €9.7 billion, and following the divestment of all remaining stakes GE will have “complete and whole ownership,” the Alstom CEO pointed out.

Despite falling coal-burn in US power stations, the country’s overall energy sector is increasingly shifting to refined coal, made by mixing special additives to feedstock coal. Based to EIA data through September, use of refined coal has risen from 17% of power sector coal consumption last year to 19% so far in 2017.

South Korea today announced an energy roadmap for 2017-2031 which sets out steps on how to shift the country’s reliance on coal and nuclear power towards renewable energy and natural gas. Paik Ungyu, Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy confirmed the government's plan to shut down seven ageing coal power stations and convert six coal power projects to run on LNG.

France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK have announced at the One Planet Summit in Paris that they would “examine or introduce” an effective CO2 price in "relevant sectors." The UK already in April 2013 unilaterally introduced a carbon tax in the power sector, and the five EU energy ministers underlined their new joint initiative could be “an effective tool to comprehensively decarbonise the world economy.”

Insisting it needs more time, the European Investment Bank (EIB) has pushed a decision on whether to lend €1.5 billion to the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) into early 2018, leaving project developers in limbo over the future of this strategic pipeline link in the EU’s Southern Gas Corridor.

The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) has handed an Emerging Technology Award to Siemens for the first successfully 3D- printed and fully tested gas turbine blades. Vetting what they call “ascending technologies”, ASME said the award winning products and processes have “left the breakthrough stage, crossed the commercialization valley of death, and are poised to reshape the industries where they compete.”

German utility Uniper and the British commodities trading house Javelin have teamed up to start selling 45 million tons of thermal- and metallurgical coal though a new joint venture with the coal miner Blackjewel. This JV also bought Noble Group’s US coal business for an estimated $34 million.

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News in Brief

German coal plants “worthless” at CO2 of €45/t

Feb 16 – Coal power plants in Germany would have to be almost completely eliminated by 2030 in a scenario with a carbon price of €45/t, a study of Barclays bank finds. A total of 46,000-MW of black and brown coal-fired generation is currently in service in Germany.

Iran plans to add 40 decentralized gas gensets

Feb 15 – Off-grid, decentralized power supply will help avert electricity shortages in Iran’s northern provinces of Mazandaran and Golestan. To that end, the Iranian energy ministry launched a plan to build 40 small-scale power plants across with a combined capacity of 1,000 MW over the two provinces over the coming six years.

National Grid makes £1m for top projects

Feb 14 – The UK’s National Grid System Operator is reaching out to industry and academia to open up a discussion on priority investments across the GB gas and electricity systems. Up to £1 million is available for the top projects, National Grid said when opening the funding application process which closes on 28 February.

Wärtsilä renews O&M accord for Saudi power plant

Feb 13 –Saudi Arabia-based Hail Cement Company hasrenewing the three-year asset management agreement with Wärtsilä and for a power plant in Turbah, Saudi Arabia. Under the agreement, Wärtsilä provides guarantees for the performance of the 53 MW base load plant, equipped with seven Wärtsilä 32 gas engines.

Black & Veatch eyed as EPC contractor for £500m Wyre plant

Feb 12 – Wrye Power, a subsidiary of NPL Group, and China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC) have hired Black & Veatch as EPC contractor for the £500 million Wyre power project. Black & Veatch will provide engineering and planning consultancy services to develop the 900 MW combined cycle gas turbine plant, which will be built at Fleetwood in Lancashire.

Lockyer Valley Energy Project gets environmental nod

Feb 9 – The Lockyer Valley Energy Project, a 1,000-MW gas-fired power plant formerly known as the Westlink Project, has received environmental approval from the US Federal Government. As part of the approval, Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners, the developer of the plant, has been ordered to commit up to $800,000 for an environmental offset plan.

GIP buys NRG Yield

Feb 8 – Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), an independent infrastructure investor, has agreed to acquire NRG Energy’s US renewable energy platform for $1.375 billion in cash and provide backstop support for NRG Yield agreed purchase of the Carlsbad Energy Center project. NYLD is the second largest US power company by enterprise value and market capitalization, operating a total capacity of 5.1 GW, diversified across wind, solar, and natural gas technologies.

Rolls-Royce tests lean-burn combustion system

Feb 7 – Rolls-Royce has run a demonstrator engine featuring ALECSys (Advanced Low Emissions Combustion System) for the first time on a testbed in Derby, UK. Designed for future jet engine programmes, ALECSys may be adapted for the power generation segment at a later stage.

Just Energy takes over EdgePower

Feb 6 – US retail energy provider Just Energy Group announced today it has agreed to acquire all shares or EdgePower, a privately-held energy monitoring company. Based in Aspen, Colorado, EdgePower provides lighting and HVAC controls, as well as enterprise monitoring in hundreds of commercial buildings across North America

Pöyry to carry out EPC for cogen project in Finland

Feb 6 – The Finnish utility Pori Energia has selected Pöyry to carry out project management, basic and detail engineering and procurement services for 90-MW Aittaluoto combined heat and power (CHP) plant project. The construction of the new cogeneration power plant will be completed by mid-2020, and once operational Pöyry will replace some of the boiler capacity at Aittaluoto.

Kosmos advances FLNG offshore Senegal

Feb 5 – Kosmos Energy has completed drilling the Requin Tigre-1 exploration well in Senegal’s Saint Louis Offshore Profond block. Exploration of the deepwater Cretaceous petroleum systems offshore Mauritania and Senegal are part of Kosmos’ efforts to source more feedgas for a FLNG project, though some of the gas find will be reserved by local governments for power generation.

Eland gets involved in Innovate UK project

Feb 2 – Participating in a £1 million Innovate UK grant-funded project, Eland Cables will install its new long linear capacitor cable technology, dubbed the Capacitive Transfer System (CTS) to help reduce power loss in the national grid. The UK currently loses around 7.6% of the power it generates during transmission and distribution, which equates to an estimated £1.1 billion spent annually.

Floating power market to quadruple by 2023

Feb 1 – The global Floating Power Plant industry is expected to surge exponentially by 2023, registering a growth rate of 10.23% during between 2017 and 2023, according to Market Research Future. Gaining full viability as a technology, floating power plants are being rolled out to guarantee uninterrupted electricity supply in remote locations that are not connected to national distribution grids.

Ener-Core, Dresser-Rand grid synchronize CHP

Jan 31 – Ener-Core’s first two 1.75-MW power oxidizers, integrated with Dresser-Rand KG2-3G gas turbines have achieved electrical synchronization with the power grid at the Pacific Ethanol bio-refinery in Stockton, California. The oxidizers are replacing the traditional gas-fired combustion chamber within CHP gas turbines, allowing industry customers to convert their low-quality waste gases directly into clean power, heat and steam.

Gazprom’s curbs domestic gas debt

Jan 30 – Accumulation of overdue debt for gas supplies remains a problem for the Russian gas market. According to Gazprom data, the total outstanding debt reached RUB 170.7 billion ($3.03bn) by January 1, 2018, an increase of RUB 9.8 billion ($173m) from early 2017. Among the most problematic non-payers are heating suppliers, which account for about 35% of the debt and two-thirds of debt growth.

Global gas demand up 3%

Jan 29 – Spurred by China’s green energy policy, global gas demand increased 3% year-on-year in the first three quarters of 2017, according to Cedigaz figures. The Paris-based research institute criticized that investments made upstream and in liquefaction infrastructure have been “insufficient” in recent years, with Coral the only LNG export venture to take a final investment decision last year.

UKPR launches iGrid App for Android

Jan 26 – UK Power Reserve has launched an Android version of its iGridUK app, providing near real-time information about the energy market, such as generation by fuel type and peak demand. The release complements the popular iGridUK app for Apple.

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Latest News on Natural Gas Power Generation, Plants and Generators

Gas to Power Journal is a specialist publication for the natural gas power generation industry, supplying analysis and insight on topics including combined cycle gas turbine technology and gas fired power plant efficiency, as well as developments in plant projects, financing and markets. Our daily updated journal provides insight into the UK, European and world energy markets for those seeking to explore the technical, strategic and commercial opportunities in natural gas power generation and its related topics.

In addition, our website tracks the commercial development of new natural gas power generation projects, through the planning, project finance and construction stages, and on to the procurement of gas supplies. Trading, pricing and product specification trends are highlighted, while regulatory and policy developments are tracked in related fields that may impact the security of natural gas power supply. Shifting demand patterns for natural gas power generation, as a part of global energy demand, are also covered, as part of our in-depth analysis.

Explore the latest innovations in natural gas power generation technology and the most efficient ways to integrate gas power with natural / renewable energies, with Gas to Power Journal.

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